Here's some 3s testing I did today with the Eflite UMX Sbach 3D. Sbach #1 is running the 2300Kv motor/GWS 5043 prop combo, while Sbach #2 is running the 2500Kv/GWS 5030 prop combo. Both have a 1mm rod under the horizontal stab to prevent high-speed aerodynamic flutter. I used a Hyperion 180 mAh 25c 3s Babbelbatt on both flights. It appears that I got the stab halves reasonably straight on S3D #1, as it flew about the same as it did before the aerodynamic flutter incident.

This thing really moves on 3s! Thanks to AS3X, the plane remains smooth & precise - even @ WOT. The 2300Kv/5043 combo is the faster of the two by a considerable margin. I noticed a bit of gain-induced elevator oscillation during the first two WOT passes with the 2300/5043, but it appeared to smooth-out after that. I could hold either plane @ WOT for as long as I wished without hitting OTP. But it was only 44 F during the flights. When flying in warmer wx, I may need to improve the cooling like some have had to do.

Interestingly, there is little difference in static thrust between the two combos, however the 2300/5043 combo's pitch-speed is nearly 20% higher. It's also interesting that the 2500/5030 actually outperforms the 2300/5043 in terms of thrust, considering that the 2300/5043 produces more thrust on 2s than the 2500 with either prop.

I decided to try the 2300kv/GWS 5043 combo in my Sbach 3D to see how it performs in this app. As we found with the Beast 3D and V1 Sbach, the 2300kv/GWS 5043 combo is noticeably faster in the Sbach 3D than the stock 2500Kv motor with the factory prop, GWS 5030, or GWS 5043. I can easily do KE circuits, and I don't even need full rudder - even at part-throttle. The plane tracks as if on rails through 300'-400' loops. Plus, flight-time with the 2300Kv/5043 combo is considerably longer that it was with the stock 2500 with the 5030 or stock prop. I'll be staying with the 2300Kv in the Sbach 3D, just like many of us have done with the V1 Sbach & Beast 3D.

Here's the performance test video. The first flight is with a Hyperion 240, the second is with a Thunder Power 325 65c pack, and the third is with one of the new Hyperion 500 35c UMX packs.

After the testing, I decided to have some fun shooting touch & goes. I was using a Hyp 500 35c pack in this flight. It's a bit heavy for good aerobatic performance, but it's great for endurance & sport-flying, or when flying in windy/turbulent conditions.

As much as I enjoy the original Sbach, and given how much AS3X does for the UMX Beast, I just had to get one of these. I am very glad that I did!

I went to the club field for the maiden. The wind was 6-11 MPH. I flew with a lightweight Hyp 240 Babbelbatt first, and then with a lightweight TP 325 65c Babbelbatt. As can be seen in the video, the TP pack definitely has better vertical & top speed. I didn't get a chance to try the new Hyp 500 35c, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. Ditto for the SFGs.

As one would expect - like her predecessor, the Sbach 3D is an excellent flier. She flies as if she's on rails - even better than the V1. The basic personality of the V1 is definitely there, but this Sbach went to etiquette school & graduated with top honors! Maneuvers are graceful & fluid, yet precise. She definitely flies big.

Thrust-to-weight seems to be markedly improved over the V1 - no doubt due to lower loss in the new 4.9A ESC. There is ample power for any aerobatic maneuver. She effortlessly climbs vertically out of a hover - even with the factory prop. Unlimited rolling verticals are easy, even late into the flight. There is plenty of vertical speed, so handling remains crisp on long up-lines & she tracks like an arrow all the way up. Her vertical capability is limited only by the pilot's eyesight.

Great news! With a TP 325 all the way back, she was still just a tad tail-heavy! This means it should be easy to get the CG right with a variety of...Continue Reading

I've always wanted to try a sailplane, so I picked up a Radian Pro last week. It's my first purpose-built soaring ship. I'm having a blast with the plane. It flies quite well for a foamie thermal duration ship. I even managed to find some lift, despite the poor conditions. Here are a couple on-board videos I shot at a friend's place up on the Minnesota/Canadian border near Lake of the Woods. You can see a small part of the west side of the lake when I'm pointing east. The first clip is my second flight with the plane. It wasn't trimmed very well, but I still managed to catch some lift - despite the forward CG. I had it trimmed-out reasonably well for the second video. I ended up with the CG at approximately 77mm. I also moved the 808 #16 camera aft just enough to get a bit of the nose in-frame for a reference point. I had yet to set up the advanced wing functions, so I was flying it as a 4-channel plane with conventional flaps. I now have reflex, camber, and crow set up, but it has been too windy to fly. Hopefully, I'll get to try out the various wing configurations soon. In these clips, I'm using Outrage NRG 1300 mAh 35c packs. The form-factor matches the factory pack. Plus - they're designed for 5c charging, and they last for a few hundred cycles before they start to fade away. I bought them a few years ago for my Blade SR (which I don't fly anymore). I've been using them in my Losi Mini 8ight and my Blade 300X. They still perform quite well, considering that they're over three years old. I plan to pick up some Thunder Power or Hyperion packs that I can use in my RP & my Blade 300X. I'll shoot some on-board video to demonstrate the advanced wing functions when the wx cooperates.

Here's my first-ever RC ROW flight. What a blast! She has plenty of power, however the added drag & weight is definitely noticeable. The floats shift the CG slightly aft on my airframe. Not enough to cause any problems, but just enough to be a bit tail-heavy for a Cub. I moved my homebrew, lightweight Hyp 240 pack forward approximately 10mm, which turned out to be about right.

Although there is something about seeing a Cub on floats that makes a person smile - there is something about flying a Cub on floats that makes a person grin from ear-to-ear - and keep on grinning for hours afterward!

Yesterday was a perfect flying day. I spent the entire day & evening at the field. I got in plenty of stick-time on the CC with the modified elevator pushrod. It made a significant difference on my plane.

For those who are looking for more elevator authority, I highly recommend the pushrod mod. Sure, the plane could still use a bit more up-elevator - but the mod made enough difference on my airframe that I'm satisfied.

The CC is a bit shy on elevator authority, so I decided to modify the elevator pushrod to see if I could get a bit more up-elevator for power-on & power-off flares. I'm hoping that it will make 3-point landings a bit easier. I cut off the U-bend & fabricated a straight section of rod to replace it. This reduces flex somewhat, and it keeps the pushrod from rubbing on the bottom of the horizontal stab when it's located in the innermost hole on the horn. It appears that I now have maybe 10% or so more up-travel. No flying wx, so I have yet to try it. Tomorrow looks like a great flying day, with a 3-4 MPH breeze blowing straight down the runway. I plan to shoot some flight-test video.

Given the flurry of questions this plane has generated regarding the use of flaps, flight-trimming, landing techniques, and ground-handling - I decided to put together a checklist for those who may be new to scale planes and/or planes with flaps. If you are experiencing difficulties such as ground-looping, difficulty flaring, sluggish control response, odd behavior in turns, or handling problems with the flaps extended - here are a few things to check:

Visually inspect the alignment of all flying surfaces with respect to the fuselage & each other. Also check the alignment of the tailwheel with respect to the rudder. For best results, any visible misalignment should be corrected before proceeding further.

Be sure that the plane remains motionless during the first 5 seconds after connecting the battery. The plane can be on its back or in any other position during initialization, provided that it remains motionless during the process.

Move the aileron pushrods to the innermost or second hole out. Move the rudder & elevator pushrods to the innermost holes. If the plane seems overly sensitive, try adding a bit of expo, rather than reducing throw - as there will be times when full control authority is needed.

Mechanically trim the plane so that little, if any tx trim is required for straight & level flight in zero wind at 50-75% throttle. AS3X interprets excessive trim (more than a few clicks) as

I decided to have a wind-surfing session with the CC. Wind was 8-16 MPH. I had a blast! The CC handles the wind much better than any of the other undercambered UMs - including the Gee Bee. Of course, the Beast 3D handles much better in the wind and can handle far more wind than any UM plane (except for possibly the Mig 15), but the CC is very impressive in the wind - especially when one considers the undercambered wing.

Got everything set up & mechanically trimmed. I have fully proportional flaps on the right-rear slider of my Futaba 10CHP, with a switchable 5-point flap-elevator mix on switch D. I moved the rudder & aileron pushrods to the second hole from the inside & moved the elevator pushrod to the third hole from the inside.

I checked to see how my Hyp 240 2s packs fit. There was plenty of room to adjust the CG fore & aft of the recommended 27mm. I tried my Hyp 320 2s 'Babbelbatt' & it fit right in with no problem at all. With the pack all the way back, the CG is 28mm, so there is no problem getting the CG right.

Spooled her up & noticed that the prop was out of balance. A piece of clear packing tape on the inside of the light blade did the trick. Packed up & headed to the field.

Wind was out of the NW @ 3-6 MPH. A perfect evening for a maiden!

I used one of my homebrew Hyp 240 2s packs for the maiden. Measured CG was 27mm. Lined her up, rolled into the throttle, and she was airborne within a few fuselage lengths. Made a few passes to check the trims, and everything looked good. I did notice that I had the CG just a bit aft of where I'd like it. Flew for 8.5 minutes. Only used 140 mAh, which is just 58%. So, that would be 11:40 to the 80% discharge point with a Hyp 240 mAh pack., or 15:30 to the 80% discharge point with a Hyp 320.

This plane is just about perfect right out of the box. It doesn't even need...Continue Reading

Some of us have been experimenting with running 3s on the stock Eflite 2s UMX bricks. Some bricks handle it, while others pop immediately when the pack is connected. Given that they're only designed for 2s, it is surprising that any of these little bricks can handle 3s reliably, but many of the EFLU4864 AS3X bricks appear to do just that. Some of us had been flying the Beast 3D on 3s packs short-charged to 12V. RCBabbel decided to try a fully-charged pack on his B3D, and his survived. After some consternation, I decided to roll the dice & try fully-charged 3s packs. Looks like my brick is one of the over-achievers. The plane is performing flawlessly after many flights on fully-charged Hyperion 180 mAh 3s packs. A few others have also reported success. The non-AS3X 2s bricks seem to be a bit more of a crap-shoot on 3s. Some handle 12V, while others pop immediately on 12V. Some handle 12V just fine, but pop immediately on 12.6V. Others seem to handle 12.6V just fine. The EFLU4864 AS3X brick (used in the Beast 3D, Gee Bee, and Carbon Cub) appears to be somewhat more tolerant of 3s than the non-AS3X AR6400LBL & AR6400NBL bricks (used in the V1 Beast & Sbach, respectively).

I'm running the 2300Kv/5043 prop combo, but others have reported good results with the stock 2500Kv motor & a 5030 prop. I'm getting over 5.5 minutes of aggressive flying to the 80% discharge point - using good throttle-management, of course.

Warning: The AR6400NBL brick is not designed for 3s. Some bricks handle it, many don't. Try at your own risk.

Experimenting with running a Hyperion 3s 180 mAh 'Babbelbatt' on a stock Sbach with a 5030 prop. Per RC's recommendation, I'm only charging the packs to 12V to prevent damaging the brick from too much voltage.

For the first flight, I mounted the pack all the way aft. I soon found that the plane was far too tail-heavy for high-speed flying, so I landed & moved the pack forward a bit. Much better. The plane is ridiculously fast. This thing goes faster straight up than an Sbach on 2s can go straight down! With the aileron pushrods in the second from the outermost holes, it can effortlessly do 'the drill-bit maneuver' vertically! The motor & pack were just barely warm after a 4.5 minute flight. Put 108 mAh back in, starting from a 12V charge.

On the second flight, I moved the CG further forward for better high-speed tracking, and set up dual-rates. Much, much better! No more darty behavior at high speed. She tracked straight & true even @ WOT. Again, the motor & pack were barely warm after the flight.

The plane is a blast to fly on 3s! I've never seen a plane with such a wide flight envelope before. Slow to a crawl or sport-fly at 10-20% throttle, perform pattern aerobatics at 25-30% throttle, perform any unlimited aerobatic maneuver you can possibly think of without ever going past 40% throttle - and you still have 60% throttle for headroom! Balls-to-...Continue Reading

Picked mine up today at my favorite LHS. Brought my 10CHP & a freshly-charged Hyp 240 2s pack with me. Spooled her up in the shop & OCP kicked in. Spooled her up a second time & everything was fine. I did a bit of testing, and felt confident that it wasn't going to happen in flight.

It was windy & gusty, but I just couldn't wait to get the maiden in, as we're heading back into the deep-freeze, with 20-30 MPH winds until Sunday. Hopefully, I'll be able to shoot some hatcam video at the club field Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, my LHS is located right next to a large movie theater with a huge asphalt parking lot.

I mounted my homebrew Hyp 240 2s pack about 6mm or so from the front of the battery tray, with the wires facing aft. I lined her up into the wind, and rolled into the throttle. She got a bit tail-happy from the P-factor as the tail came up (as a Gee Bee should), but it was easy to compensate with rudder. That made me laugh a bit, as it reminded me of the videos I've seen of the full-scale plane on takeoff. I let her build up some speed on the mains, then eased the stick back. She climbed out with authority. I leveled out & checked the trim. None was needed, as she was flying straight & true. She felt slightly nose-heavy, though - so I'll move the pack a bit further aft next time. I brought her around for a WOT pass. She picked up speed quickly, and there was a fair amount of Doppler shift as she went by. I was surprised...Continue Reading

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Just had to add one of these to the hangar, as I've never flown a quad before! Wow - this little guy is a blast! Different than, say, the Beast 3D or mCP X, but every bit as much fun - even in a light breeze! Indoors, it is surgically-precise. Nearly as stable as a coaxial heli, yet nearly as agile as my mCP X. I find it far more fun to fly around the house than my mSR or mCP X, and it is an absolute blast to fly in my backyard! It carries a 15g keychain cam with ease - however the extra weight is very noticeable when it's breezy. Most intermediate fixed-wing pilots will have no trouble flying this bird. Especially those who know how to use their rudder for something besides taxiing - such as making coordinated turns. She is very responsive, however. More like a CP heli in this regard. With the response tamed down on low rates, anyone with some coaxial heli experience should feel right at home. This bird is also quite tough. Maybe even close to being 'mSR-tough'. She's a keeper, for sure!!

Here are a few videos.

Hatcam video - maiden flight in my yard. My very first time flying a quad!

I decided to swap the stock 2500Kv motor for the V1 Beast's 2300Kv motor. I also switched to the 5043 prop. First flight is with a homebrew Hyp 240 2s pack & the second flight is with a homebrew Hyp 180 2s pack. I definitely prefer the 2300Kv motor w/5043 over the 2500Kv motor w/5030 prop. better throttle-response, more punch, and longer flights. It's simply a better match for the airframe, I believe.

Took the new Beast to our indoor meet last night. It's an absolute blast to fly indoors! So silky & smooth, yet so precise. Just like a perfectly-tuned pattern ship. But slow-flight is also piece of cake. Hardly any wing-rock during harriers, rolls and it's easy to do slow KE down low! I don't understand the comments about the roll-rate not being fast enough. I moved the aileron pushrods to the second from the innermost holes, and rolls are crisp & quick even at half-throttle. I've flown the V1 Beast in there quite a few times. It's fun, but the Beast 3D is even more fun. It instills a level of confidence well-beyond what I've ever felt with the V1.

Wind was up, so I went to the field with the 3D & V1 to do a comparison. Wow! What a difference! The AS3X really works extremely well in the gusty conditions. In fact, I'd say that wind-handling is it's strong-point. First, I flew the Beast 3D & then the V1. I was running Hyp 240 2s packs in both planes, with a 5030 on the 3D & a 5043 on the V1. The throws are the same on both planes - elevator & rudder pushrods in the innermost holes, with the aileron pushrods in the second hole out. The Beast 3D was actually fun to fly in that wind! The V1 - not so much. According to the local wx station log, the wind during the following flights was 9 MPH, gusting to 16 MPH.

Of course, I just had to add one of these to the hangar! I got the maiden in, and a couple flights on the 5043, as well!

However, my hatcam battery must be on its way out. It crapped-out during the second video - which was with the 5043 on my homebrew Hyp 180 & 240 packs. Fortunately, I did get the maiden. Unfortunately, the second file got corrupted when the battery died, so I don't have any video with the 5043. Bummer, as I was flying much more aggressively during the second & third flights. I ran out of light before I could try the 5030. I'll shoot some more footage with the 5030 & 5043 when I get a chance.
Flight-report:

I took the plane out of the box, popped in a Hyp 180 2s pack (front of the pack just behind the cowl opening), bound it to my Futaba 10CHP, and checked for any gross misalignment. Finding none, I fired up the AS3X by blipping the throttle. I rotated the plane about its three axes of rotation, and checked for the expected control movements. Everything looked good, so I headed to the runway. It was nearly dead-calm. I thought it a bit ironic, as this was the first time I've actually wished for some wind during a maiden flight!

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turboparker

Gopher huntin' stick jockey

About turboparker

Biography

I'm a middle-aged, techie-type of guy who refuses to 'get old'. I grew up in an aviation family. I spent hundreds of hours flying with my dad, who eventually retired with 33,500 hours. I was 9 when he taught me to fly. I've been flying RC since 1984.